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It's All Decked Out. Give It Somewhere to Go. - washingtonpost.com
by Lost at 1:10 am EDT, Jul 17, 2008 |
Send the ISS somewhere. The ISS, you see, is already an interplanetary spacecraft -- at least potentially. It's missing a drive system and a steerage module, but those are technicalities. Although it's ungainly in appearance, it's designed to be boosted periodically to a higher altitude by a shuttle, a Russian Soyuz or one of the upcoming new Constellation program Orion spacecraft. It could fairly easily be retrofitted for operations beyond low-Earth orbit. In principle, we could fly it almost anywhere within the inner solar system -- to any place where it could still receive enough solar power to keep all its systems running. nullnull
HERE HERE! |
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RE: It's All Decked Out. Give It Somewhere to Go. - washingtonpost.com
by Decius at 7:15 am EDT, Jul 17, 2008 |
Jello wrote: Send the ISS somewhere. The ISS, you see, is already an interplanetary spacecraft -- at least potentially. It's missing a drive system and a steerage module, but those are technicalities. Although it's ungainly in appearance, it's designed to be boosted periodically to a higher altitude by a shuttle, a Russian Soyuz or one of the upcoming new Constellation program Orion spacecraft. It could fairly easily be retrofitted for operations beyond low-Earth orbit. In principle, we could fly it almost anywhere within the inner solar system -- to any place where it could still receive enough solar power to keep all its systems running. nullnull
HERE HERE!
Dude, that thing is not ready for long distance travel. Just a few months ago the toilet broke and they had to ship one up from earth. What the fuck are they going to do if that happens in outer space? |
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RE: It's All Decked Out. Give It Somewhere to Go. - washingtonpost.com
by ubernoir at 9:12 am EDT, Jul 17, 2008 |
Decius wrote: Jello wrote: Send the ISS somewhere. The ISS, you see, is already an interplanetary spacecraft -- at least potentially. It's missing a drive system and a steerage module, but those are technicalities. Although it's ungainly in appearance, it's designed to be boosted periodically to a higher altitude by a shuttle, a Russian Soyuz or one of the upcoming new Constellation program Orion spacecraft. It could fairly easily be retrofitted for operations beyond low-Earth orbit. In principle, we could fly it almost anywhere within the inner solar system -- to any place where it could still receive enough solar power to keep all its systems running. nullnull
HERE HERE!
Dude, that thing is not ready for long distance travel. Just a few months ago the toilet broke and they had to ship one up from earth. What the fuck are they going to do if that happens in outer space?
yes but that's why moon orbit is a good compromise and makes it a good testbed |
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RE: It's All Decked Out. Give It Somewhere to Go. - washingtonpost.com
by Lost at 10:41 am EDT, Jul 17, 2008 |
Decius wrote: Jello wrote: Send the ISS somewhere. The ISS, you see, is already an interplanetary spacecraft -- at least potentially. It's missing a drive system and a steerage module, but those are technicalities. Although it's ungainly in appearance, it's designed to be boosted periodically to a higher altitude by a shuttle, a Russian Soyuz or one of the upcoming new Constellation program Orion spacecraft. It could fairly easily be retrofitted for operations beyond low-Earth orbit. In principle, we could fly it almost anywhere within the inner solar system -- to any place where it could still receive enough solar power to keep all its systems running. nullnull
HERE HERE!
Dude, that thing is not ready for long distance travel. Just a few months ago the toilet broke and they had to ship one up from earth. What the fuck are they going to do if that happens in outer space?
Use the experience they got from fixing it, after it operated largely trouble free for many years, to fix it again? Install backup toilet in propulsion module? Its doable. |
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It's All Decked Out. Give It Somewhere to Go. - washingtonpost.com
by ubernoir at 7:04 am EDT, Jul 16, 2008 |
Consider the International Space Station, that marvel of incremental engineering. It has close to 15,000 cubic feet of livable space; 10 modules, or living and working areas; a Canadian robot arm that can repair the station from outside; and the capacity to keep five astronauts (including the occasional wealthy rubbernecking space tourist) in good health for long periods. It has gleaming, underused laboratories; its bathroom is fully repaired; and its exercycle is ready for vigorous mandatory workouts.
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Send the ISS somewhere. The ISS, you see, is already an interplanetary spacecraft -- at least potentially. It's missing a drive system and a steerage module, but those are technicalities. Although it's ungainly in appearance, it's designed to be boosted periodically to a higher altitude by a shuttle, a Russian Soyuz or one of the upcoming new Constellation program Orion spacecraft. It could fairly easily be retrofitted for operations beyond low-Earth orbit. In principle, we could fly it almost anywhere within the inner solar system -- to any place where it could still receive enough solar power to keep all its systems running.
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Let's begin the process of turning the ISS from an Earth-orbiting caterpillar into an interplanetary butterfly.
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